


The Dreams We Build

by Akiko_Natsuko



Series: FT Dads AU - Drabbles [9]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fairy Tail Friendship Week, Friendship, Gen, High School, Magnolia Dad's Club, Pre-Relationship, Promises, ftdadsau
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27605831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: Freed's future is mapped out for him, set in stone as far as his father is concerned. But he has a different dream, and Laxus is determined to make it a reality.
Series: FT Dads AU - Drabbles [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830436
Kudos: 8
Collections: Fairy Friendship Week 2020, Fairy Tail Dads AU





	The Dreams We Build

**Author's Note:**

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“You’re quiet today,” Laxus commented, watching Freed out of the corner of his eye as they walked along the road. It wasn’t that Freed was a chatterbox at the best of times, usually preferring to watch and wait before commenting, usually so that he could soothe over whatever his twin’s much sharper tongue had stirred up. However, Felipe wasn’t with them and Freed usually opened up when it was just the two of them, revelling in the freedom of being away from his family, but beyond a greeting when they’d met at the gate, he hadn’t said anything.

“I don’t have anything to say.” That was a lie. There was no tell, no flicker in his expression or waver in the even tone, but Laxus knew that it was a lie and his eyes narrowed before he swivelled, stepping directly into Freed’s path and bringing them both to a halt. “Laxus?” Freed met his gaze, and his eyes betrayed him as they usually did when something was bothering him.

“What is it?” Laxus asked, fighting not to make it a demand. He had learned the hard way that Freed could be more stubborn than the rest of his siblings put together when he wanted to. “Freed...?” He let a hint of a plea slip into his voice, saw Freed frown and knew that he had him, even before his friend’s shoulders slumped and he looked away.

“We had our careers talk this afternoon.”

“Yeah, we have it tomorrow,” Laxus said after a moment when Freed didn’t seem intent on continuing. “What about it?”

“They were talking about all the options we have, the choices…” Freed’s calm was evaporating, his hands fisted in the hem of his jumper. “But I don’t have a choice.” Laxus opened his mouth to disagree, and then snapped it shut with a grimace because there was only one person that could put that defeated expression on Freed’s face.

“Your dad?”

“I’m the oldest son,” Freed said by way of reply, not looking at him. A distant look in his eyes, and his face twisted with a bitterness that didn’t belong there. “The ‘Justine Heir’. He has everything planned out, I’m to study business management and finance like he did, at the school, he went to…”

Laxus snorted. It wasn’t the reply he’d been aiming for, but he’d been struck by the image of Freed in a suit stuck behind a desk with endless piles of paper, and that was so far from his friend that it seemed ludicrous. Freed blinked, startled by the reaction and flushed, as though he thought Laxus was laughing at him. “Sorry,” Laxus said, reigning himself in. “I just can’t see you doing the nine to five office lifestyle, even if you are a stickler for rules and deadlines.” Half of that was his father demanding perfection from it, and the other was Freed trying to live a quiet life so that he could make the most of what freedoms he had. Freed relaxed a little at his reply, even managed a wan smile.

“I don’t want to, but…”

“What do you want to do?” Laxus asked, not liking the defeated ‘but’ and cutting Freed off before he could sink anymore into it, grinning – a little forced- when Freed blinked at him. “Forget your father, forget Justine Enterprises. What do you want to do?” He wasn’t sure if Freed would have an answer, he knew that he didn’t even though Makarov had been nagging at him to start thinking about it lately, but if he could at least get Freed thinking about it, then he would class it as a victory.

He wasn’t expecting the way that Freed’s eyes lit up, his smile growing, soft and wondering as though he had never expected anyone to ask that. “I want to be an architect,” Freed whispered in a rush, the words tumbling out as though he was afraid that he would lose the courage to say them if he didn’t get them out now, eyes darting around as though he half-expected his father to descend on them in the middle of the street.

“An architect?” Laxus echoed.

“Yes,” Freed nodding, almost bouncing on the heels of his feet now as he turned his head, and Laxus followed his gaze, seeing that he was looking towards the distant silhouette of Kardia Cathedral. “I want to be able to design buildings like that, buildings that can bring people together, that can serve a purpose, that stand out.” Freed’s face was alive in a way that Laxus had never seen it before. His eyes bright and fierce, and he realised that this wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, but a dream that had been held and nurtured in secret for far too long, and at that moment he wanted nothing more than to be part of that future.

“Tell you what,” he said, taking a deep breath when Freed tore his gaze away from the cathedral and looked at him curiously. “You become an architect, and I’ll learn how to build those buildings for you.”


End file.
